Come one, come all, to the extravagant school Study Hall! Sit under the watchful gaze of our faculty as you make a labor of love over your horse-based literature, and feel free to ask any questions that come to mind!

If you have a question specific to you, or which isn't answered in a lecture, then this is the place to post it! A professor will be along shortly to give you an individualized answer. Please ask just one question at a time, and don't ask another until your previous question is answered. Also, please head each post with a summary topic, and refrain from holding conversations. If you require further clarification about the answer you're given, send a PM to the relevant professor.

Here's an example question:

Writing Pinkie Pie
I'm having some trouble with writing Pinkie Pie, my readers keep saying that I'm not doing it right and I have no idea why. Help!

Writing Rarity
I have a lot of trouble with writing Rarity. Can you please help me?

3991391 If I may attempt to answer, I try to picture the characters doing that which they're known for. In the case of pinkie Pie, I write her she pronks and prances around in circles, giggling the entire time. For twilight, I imagine her reading off her notes while speaking, For Celestia, her calmly smiling as she explains the situation.

For Rarity, her hoof across her barrel or against her forehead, as she enlightens her fellow creatures to the wonders of high society, usually with her eyes closed. (and including the word darling )

If you can't see the characters saying or doing what you're writing while maintaining these mental images, go back and rewrite the dialogue. It may never be perfect, but also keep in mind it's fan-fiction, so you have some leeway. 'Specially when it comes to readers like me. I've only ever seen these characters in fanon.

3991643 Please clarify, you said HiE, but gave Earth locations. Did you mean a Britain or an American?

Writing Rainbow Dash
I'm thinking of writing a story based around Rainbow Dash, but I'm not sure how to characterize her so that I don't make her spew out boring old "20% cooler" lines. Any advice?

3990426

Suicidal Rarity

Hi, I'm taking a huge risk here by attempting to write a fic where Rarity wants, of all ponies, Discord to be her lover, but he's already "claimed" by Twilight. So I'm attempting to show how she slowly slips into a depression as her acts of love go unnoticed, while Twilight who has barely done much to gain his affections is ogled like a pure piece of eye candy (weirdest damn wording ever, but it proves my point).

Halp?

3991391
3992713
All characters in the show have already given ample examples of how they should be written and the voice that they should have when speaking. Your goal, as a writer, is to emulate the core personality traits and vocabulary/phraseology of the character you are writing.

PRO TIP! - Watch as much of your character as possible in the show and try to identify their core character traits, and how these traits manifest themselves in their actions and in their use of words!

For example, Rarity's core personality traits are as such: She likes to keep up with good image, and likes to put forward the air of a high society pony. But she is loyal to her friends, and in most instances is willing to give up her image of being "a lady" if it is required to help her friends. She is also highly respecting and respectable (unless there is something that she feels strongly about and you oppose her, in which case she will respond with the measure of her strong feelings). Her Use of exaggeration, vocabulary, and phrases from the world of "fashion" and "high society" is a reflection of these characteristics, along with her friendly formalities.

Rainbow Dash's core traits are as such: She is confident in her athletic prowess, and strive to be the best at anything she is interested in. She is competitive, and focused on keeping up the appearance of being "cool". In trying to keep up this appearance, she avoids or mocks anything that falls outside of her judgement of coolness, and feels that she cannot perform well outside of these things. If something outside of her "cool" interests catches her attention, she'll either try to hide her interest in that thing, or try to make it sound as if it fits her "cool" requirements. She is also willing to give up being "cool" if it required to help her friends. These traits manifest themselves in her relaxed, and sometimes grammatically incorrect, language, which is littered with exaggeration of the things she loves and simplistic slangs (such as "totally","lame","awesome").

3993247
Well, you've got to at least lead into her romantic interests in these characters. Simply saying she has interest in any of them doesn't work. The interest needs to be built, whether it's through her interactions with them, or her observance with them. Everything should be built up a little at a time. Just saying, "This is how it is", won't be believable.

Cause and effect. If it shows some form of logical progression (even if it's somewhat flawed), then it is better than just going from nothing to "Ooooh, he caught my eye!".

Flow into it. No relationship should come out of nowhere, because no relationship ever does.

Maybe have Rarity observe discord and show her thoughts as she takes note of his "artistic looks", "his gentlemanly manner", and perhaps his "bad-boy behavior". Remember, she probably reads a lot of drama tabloids. Build on her terrible perception of the tall, dark, and handsome idea.

As for building up to desperation and suicide, you're going to have to work long and hard on getting it to build up to that level, especially with someone as held together about her image as Rarity is. Staying in character and making it that far will be a challenge.

3991643
Flip a coin and run with it.

3993127
If your question is whether it is possible to proofread something after posted, then the answer is yes: you can modify posted stories at any time for any reason. If you catch something after posting, you can always go back and clean it up.

If your question is whether anyone is interested in proofreading, then that is beyond the scope of this thread. I would direct you to The Proofreader Group or Looking for Editors. They should be able to help you out.

Writing of past events

I want to do a few examples of my characters past experiences, so I used the quote blocks. Apparently this is incorrect, and got me dinged by the mods, even though I thought it looked exactly as I wanted it to.
Example from my story:
---------------
. So Fate hit him with the stick.

"I'm sorry sir, we don't need anyone of your talent set. We do need a Janitor, though. The pay's not as good, but it's all we have available at the moment."

Then it got a metal rod when that didn't work.
---------------

Is this wrong, or did the mod just misunderstand my use of them? The mod said something about not using them for dialogue, but aren't quotations things that were said in the past, ergo dialogue? Regardless, I would like an idea of how to properly do this.

4000511
With regards to synopsis writing, there's generally three approaches that I take: one being giving an actual synopsis of the story, another being just setting up the premise, and the third being a short excerpt from an interesting scene.

The goal of a synopsis is to get readers to start your story, and that is the most important thing: make it interesting. If you have any interesting quotes or short excerpts that you think would pique a reader's interest, that could be a good thing to use for a synopsis, and is my personal favorite method. You could also use the synopsis as an introduction of sorts, basically a brief description of the situation your protagonist is in when the story starts, which may work well for very off-the-wall or strange plots where the reader may immediately go "wow, how did she get in that situation?" Lastly, you could simply give a short summary of the story for the synopsis, but it can be difficult to catch a reader's interest like so. It really depends on the story and your personal strengths as a writer.

4000830
It seems to me you're writing a narrative scene, with brief action scene "flashbacks" interspersed between paragraphs, right? Instead of using quotation boxes, try using something else to differentiate between the narration and the flashbacks. If you're going for a fast-paced, chaotic tone, I'd recommend just italicizing the flashbacks but leaving no other differentiation. If your pace is more measured, then try separating the flashbacks and the narration with horizontal rules, but be careful your story doesn't end up being choppy due to all the jumping back and forth. It may be better to simply show all these things happening, instead of narrating it. You can make a horizontal rule by typing "hr" in between [brackets], like this:

4001380 I'm actually going with Italics for now. I tried the HR, but it looked horrific. And yes, It's four flashbacks with a line back in present after each scene, continuing the carrot/stick joke. The last is the longest, but it's also obviously the 'last straw'.

4000830
4001394
Sometimes the issue is that it becomes difficult for the reader to know that what you are referring to is a flashback. Are you including anything that indicates to the reader that those are indeed moments in the past being remembered? Or do they appear to be present thoughts, or perhaps a conversation that could be going on in that very moment of the story? Flashbacks are frequently difficult to understand if the reader doesn't know that that is what they are, especially because you can't assume that the reader knows that it is a flashback (unless those lines had been spoken word for word recently in the story, in which case it can almost be assumed, but still, better safe than sorry).

Some tips for flashbacks:
-The most common format is using horizontal rules and italics for anything in the flashback.
-In a flashback, you should almost always have more than just dialogue. If the flash back is just dialogue, then it should be dialogue that the reader has recently read verbatim so that it can be easily recognized as a flashback.
-If the above cannot be followed because of a custom format or some other reason, then, at least, the first instance of whatever flashback format that you choose must be prefaced with something indicating that they are flashbacks, for example the phrase "This brought back memories of the advice his old captain used to repeat..." *flashback goes here*

4002182

Are you including anything that indicates to the reader that those are indeed moments in the past being remembered? Or do they appear to be present thoughts, or perhaps a conversation that could be going on in that very moment of the story?

Damn, I'll double check that it's obvious. I'm finding that the more complicated I get with my stories and the longer I write in one sitting, the more I may lose my audience. I was told that was the case with my latest story. I'll probly go back and add something like 'Bushels, 4 years ago' to the break I used. the next break I can probably leave since the reader would know what that's for. Thanks again.

4003873
Normally, the premise should sell itself. The best way to get someone interested in your story is through the hook. If the hook isn't interesting enough to keep a reader reading, then most any variation of a description of that hook won't be enough to get them to even start reading.

Your premise is already interesting. And given it's rather... unorthodox nature, sometimes the best thing to do is to be direct about it. "The girls play airsoft. Competition ensues." (Or something like that. You get the idea.)

But in short, you'll try to present some form of the hook (or a hook) to the readers in a very short collection of words. What is a hook? A hook is an incomplete idea, something terrible, exciting, or nerve-racking that is open ended enough that anyone who gives it any attention will want to see it resolved. And idea that pokes at their brain and makes them wonder "What happens next?"

That's what you want. Not just in your story, but in your title and description.

Character narration in a 3rd person story

Hey.

I'm wondering how to properly do narration. And by that I don't mean a first pony POV story. I mean a story where parts are narrated by one of the characters.

I'm going to be writing a G3 story, a reimagining of their universe. It's going to be based on their first episode, a charming birthday. The problem is the point of view. You see in parts of the episode, one of the characters talks to and elaborates for the viewer, but the entire episode isn't done though her eyes, and wouldn't be accurate as a first pony fic.

How do I properly do 3rd person perspective while still having a character talking to the reader?

4068212
Going to need a bit more clarity before I can help you out. Do you mean the character is in the scene, turns, and starts talking to the reader ala breaking the forth wall? Or is it more the character is suddenly doing voice over narration? If the latter, who was the narrator before the character took over and what is the relation between the version of the character in the scene and the one doing the narration?

And since this all seems motivated by a desire to stick very close to the source material, I would also take a moment to question whether conveying the information in this way is actually for the best. Is the character only going to do this narration trick once or is it going to be a regular thing? Will other characters get a turn to narrate later? Is it an important part of the tone of the character or story (i.e. Pinkie)? Is this must-know-now information? If so, is there any other way to get the information across?

4070210

You've probably seen this type of thing before in movies or shows, where a character voices over introductions to the viewer and sets the stage for what's going on on screen, saying their thoughts on what's going on before letting things proceed, occasionally jumping in and out to elaborate something for the viewer or how they were feeling at the time as a scene is unfolding. It is also common during flashback scenes, where the narrator says a few details about events here and there while the scene is playing out. Fight Club is a pretty good example.

For this story, the character, Razzaroo, will be voicing over the start of the scene, before appearing later herself. She's talking to the reader, but more in an informing way, rather than at the reader through the screen. The information is must know, as it is though her that we get a brief description of the others in a meet the ponies sort of way. This will be done by Razz flipping through her scrapbook and pointing out a few details as we meet each character on our way to the crux of the story. That's pretty much the gist of her narration: setting the stage, meeting and briefly describing the the cast to us, before shifting to her part in the story as the action gets underway.

4070866
It sounds like a technique that is more suited to a visual medium where what is happening is separate from any specific character. The technique relies upon having a shared "objective" viewpoint for the reader and the character to both be looking at while the character adds commentary. As the viewpoint of a book is necessarily narration in its own right, it does not make much sense to have a character giving commentary narration over the "viewpoint" narration. The closest thing I can think of that would work neatly is where an impartial third person narrator narrates a character's opinion:

Pinkie Pie turned a page in her scrapbook. There was Twilight on spring cleaning day buried in a heap of books. Pinkie chuckled. The lavender bookworm loved books so much the disaster was more like dumping water on a fish.

In this case, the character's commentary is a framing device: it takes place in a separate scene involving a regular third person narrator focusing on Razz looking through her scrapbook. Treat this commentary scene like an ongoing flashback. Establish it, drop an [ hr], and cut back to it whenever you need it. I assume you intend to eventually come to a picture which leads her thoughts back to the action, at which point the narration can trail off, you drop another [ hr], and return your focus to the actual happenings in the story.

Granted, this technique is entirely for exposition, which is frowned upon in writing. The way you describe what you want to do with it has infodump written all over it. The general consensus is that readers prefer to get to the meat of the story as quickly as possible with the bare minimum amount of exposition or introduction. They will pick up on who the characters are as they interact with each other, so personality traits are never something that need narration. If the plot has any backstory necessary to understand it, then at some point your characters will need to acquire that information. We can find out when the characters do, so front-loading plot information is generally unnecessary as well. If you are delivering the story correctly, we should not require a framing device -- we should have picked up everything we needed to know while reading the actual story. Unless you are dead-set on following the source material, I would advise restructuring your telling of the story to convey this information naturally through the action rather than through voice-over or narration.

You can see this at work in the MLP:FiM pilot episode. We do get the storybook opening, but only because the story begins by Twilight reading that exact same book and being tipped off that something big is about to happen, which immediately starts the action. The character traits of the main cast are all touched upon by giving everypony their own introductory scenes so we get a feel for how the characters interact rather than having dry cliffnotes character bios narrated at us, and any additional information we needed was discovered, given by characters, or looked up in the library as the characters had a reason to want to know it. I believe you will find that your story will be more engaging if you focus on imagining how the characters will interact in your opening scene rather than relying on external commentary to tell us who is who.

If you must have this framing narration, you should know your purpose besides delivering information. Normally, this type of thing is done because the story is more interesting when told from a certain character's point of view or in their voice. You could also use it to establish a storybook feel, which adjusts how the audience is going to approach your story. I also see it used when the story is supposed to have a moral or theme and the author wants to draw attention to it, though if done heavy-handedly this leads to poor writing. Whatever the purpose, make sure you know what effect you intend to have by using this literary device and ensure you write the rest of the story to make the best use of it. Just because the source material (in another medium) uses it does not mean that it is the best way for you to tell your story in your medium.

When is there too much dialogue?

I've hit a major snag in one of my stories. It's a scene where Luna and my HIE OC are forced into a position where they are trapped together and have noting to do but talk. I have this event for a few reasons:

1) Setting conditions for OCs motivations (short version, he's a self-proclaimed priest that bases his actions on beliefs and prides himself on listening to and helping others)

2) establishing trust relationship between two: Luna, after being called out on a slip, ends up giving an impromptu confession where OC listens for her and offers sound advice earning her trust

3) some world building: during the confession, Luna hints to several world events that occurred before the OC showed up.

Needless to say, this stretched things out longer than I thought it would. Looks to be taking up a whole chapter (and I write long ones anyway) and I'm justifying it by the fact that there will be action in the next chapter and some new interaction at the end of current one. Can't bring myself to decide whether to say 'screw it and just go with it' or if I should start hacking away to try and cut time down and add more action/variety. Is there anyone here that can give some suggestions or should I try the forum?

Details

Yeah I need a lot of help with that and Pacing

Well I want to write a story based around an OC character but also want to write out the Mane 6, but also want to avoid flanderizing each character. Even though I've seen the show and reviews I'm not confident in my characterization and dialogue. It always seems to be a major roadblock for me. Any advice to offer?

Hello! Swedish brony Silvers 93 here.
I am quie new to fanfic Writing and could use some helpful feedback on my work in progress, A silver lining, which can be found on my page.
All feedback is good, pointers and the like, as well as what you Think about the OC and such in general.

Thank you every pony for your time.

Your Swedish brony

Silvers.

Hay I'm a new writer and I'm trying to write a dark story about pink amena going crazy and turning into a cereal killer I'm having writers block
Help?

4169724 Allow me to Point out it has been done before.
Try to be original, add some Comedy to it maybe and have a good backstory.
That is all I can say as a beginner myself.

Good luck mate and feel free to ask for feedback.

4172915 thanks any and all help is appreciated and it's for the fallow

4174062 Don't mention it. I stand by if you need some help with your fic. You just say the Word.

I've been working on writing a story with wich I think is good but nobody likes it I was wondering I could get some help seeing what was wrong with it

3990426 STORY SUBMITTING

How do I submit a story for evaluation? I dun kno how. Please help. Thank you.

4119953

When is there too much dialogue?

This is a tough one which really comes down to your personal strengths as a writer. At the end of the day, there is no hard ratio one needs to maintain between dialogue and action; what really matters is that things remain interesting. If your dialogue is idle chatter of nothing significant, your reader will either skim over it or grow bored and leave your story, and neither of those are good. Another thing you need to consider is that you avoid what's called "talking head syndrome," where your story devolves into nothing more than one line of dialogue after another, full of "he said" and "she said" shortly followed by quotes.

A good way to avoid this to make sure you include actions alongside your dialogue. And as an added benefit, dialogue accompanied by actions is a great way to add extra meaning to words, build character, and slip in hidden subtexts. Luckily for us, ponies have very expressive bodies. Not only can they do most of the expressive things humans do (or a pony equivalent) such as eye rolls, facial expressions, or pacing, they can also do many things that humans cannot to express themselves. They can flick their tails, flatten or twitch their ears, scratch at the ground, rear up, toss their manes, all that good jazz. If you take advantage of this and also make sure that your dialogue is interesting on it's own and presented as more than an encyclopedia entry, then you shouldn't have a problem.

If, on the other hand, you find that your dialogue is not very interesting or comes off as an infodump (whether due to its content or your own personal weaknesses as a writer), you may want to cut down on its length or parse it up with scenes of action happening elsewhere.

4168582

Details

This isn't really a question, and your followup suggests a topic far too broad to be addressed here. I'd recommend perusing our directory of lectures for something relevant to what you need.

4168650

Well I want to write a story based around an OC character but also want to write out the Mane 6, but also want to avoid flanderizing each character. Even though I've seen the show and reviews I'm not confident in my characterization and dialogue. It always seems to be a major roadblock for me.

I'm afraid that all I can tell you here is, well, learn the characters and what makes them tick. There's really no other way around the issue: you simply can't write a character well if you don't know them, and if you can't write a character well, it's probably because you don't know them. Try to make sure you remember that each character must be a fully-fledged personality with dreams, fears, wants, needs, habits and pet peeves. I would recommend you look at my lecture on creating deep and believable OCs, and try answering the questions presented in there for the characters you want to use. You can find it in the directory.

4169323
4273310
4275518
Sorry, but this isn't the type of place to ask those questions. The School For New Writers isn't a review group, but I would recommend seeking out some of the many review groups on this site and asking them to take a look at your work.

4169724

Hay I'm a new writer and I'm trying to write a dark story about pink amena going crazy and turning into a cereal killer I'm having writers block
Help?

If you're having writers block, it's probably because your plot isn't developed enough. If you can't think of a more detailed plot to write out involving Pinkamena becoming a serial killer, then I'd say you simply don't have a strong enough premise. A good way to get a good story that doesn't require tedious hours of headbanging to finish is to ensure that you have a premise which is interesting on its own, hasn't been overdone, and more or less writes itself. Try adding a few details to your story that make it stand out from the crowd, and hopefully the way forwards will present itself to you.

4278096 well hell thanks I didn't think of that
(10 min later edit)
Sadly I had to scrap it totally it wasn't good enough
Oh well I guess I'll think of something new

4278096 K. Sorry.

Clop and romance

I'm working on a mature fanfic, Including my favorite ships: SugarGlider and DoubleFavor. Any advice on clop or romance tips?

Discord
I'm trying to work on a story set during Discords return during season two, but I'm having trouble being "random" enough. Any tips?

4290128 What kind of clop is it is it romance with clop in it or is it mindless sex

4290976 What is the stories general plot, who are the characters, what is the purpose of the story, you need the plot, setting and characters done before you can throw in the randomness.

4294067 Romance with clop :3

4294070

(Er... sorry, wasn't sure if you're response was asking me for specifics, or if you mean that's stuff I need to know in general. If it's the latter, ignore this.)

Discord has a very minor apperance; the story actually focuses on Daring Do during that time period, specifically, her trekking through a jungle when Discords bizarre reality warping starts to happen. I have a few ideas for how the forest around her could have been changed (licorice vines, a chocolate river Willy Wonka-style) but I'm not sure what else to do other than just hitting up a random generator.

(The plot, such as it is, is about (a possibly Discorded) Daring trying to navigate her way through this crazy new world.)

As per the rules, I am transferring my inquiry here:

Pony version of Ancient Egypt

What I meant to say was, a ponified word for Egypt. See, I have a Fluttershy story with a sphinx. And one scene I'm working on depicts the sphinx sitting up like a royal Egyptian cat. My editor said that if I could find an in-universe equivalent for "Egyptian," that would be better. Like Manehattan is Manhattan, or Fillydelphia is Philadelphia.

I have one specific input received for a possible ponified word for Egypt. So just in case you guys have anymore suggestions, please feel free.

4365335
How about Haygpt?

4290976 Hmmm. A little guide I use is this; don't stick to a "theme." It's not random if it's all food-centric pranks or something like that. And it's not so much about the randomness as it is the characterization. When authors set out to write Discord, they tend to focus entirely upon the fact that he's random. They become so obsessed with that randomness, that they fail to see him as a character. That's where the problem lies. You can't write a meaningful or believable Discord if you're constantly focusing on the random events.

Discord is of course the Spirit of Chaos. As such, his emotional state translates directly to the world around him. You need to understand Discord inside and out to understand how he internally processes a situation. Once you know that, it becomes far easier to add the random bits in. Because, they aren't "random," not really, they're more like an extension of his emotions and the situation around him. He uses his magic almost as we use hand gestures or facial movements. Think of him as an insanely excitable man that gets so wrapped up in the situation and his enjoyment of it that he allows his emotions to transform the world around him to suit his needs and highlight those emotions. It's not a "let's throw a bunch of random stuff in" kind of deal here. It's actively seeking to understand Discord as a character and his reaction to the situation he's thrown into.

An example from my own work.

Discord always thought fun was a matter of perspective. Some creatures, mainly ponies, believed that in order for any activity to be fun, it had to be contained and predictable. That self-limiting thought process irritated him to no end. For the very activity that one creature found repulsive, might bring endless amusement to another. Therefore, he had little qualms about transforming the large field of wheat before him into a giant, squishy loaf of bread to sunbathe on. That was, until Celestia found out.

"What did you do?" The telltale, carrying voice of their very own sun princess sounded above him.

Discord chuckled as she landed on the loaf, prancing like a filly when it started to give way under her. "Stop struggling, Tia." Seeing that the alicorn was dead set on sinking to the bottom, Discord snapped a talon, turning the bread into stone under her hooves. He could not help but snigger into his paw at her sour expression, "Do not look so downcast, it was but a jest."

Here I started out with a "random" scene to highlight Discord's playful mood. But as Celestia starts to annoy him, his magic becomes more serious until it dissolves itself all together. Generally that's how I'll write Discord in my stories; when he's really serious, he tends to forgo the use of chaos magic. Now, everyone has their own headcanon, and it's up to you to decide what it'll be. I believe most authors just make his magic change (generally becoming more dangerous) when he's angry/serious. But, whatever you decide, make sure to keep it consistent and track his mood. Little shifts in his emotional state have a very real and direct effect on the world around the characters, remember that.

Hope that helps. Best of luck with that story. It sounds like you'll be having a lot of fun with it.

4370338 Nice, nice...it sounds naturally like Egypt. Will talk to my editor about it.

Help with Dialogue/Character and Pacing and Limiting myself

I, for a while have always wanted to write in a way that takes more inspiration from love craft, and not in the stereotypical way, when reading his stories I have always gotten absorbed in the hearty amount of adjectives that can build a story from the basis of thought. The only downside to this is that I can barely write good dialogue as most of the dialogue I attempt to write is choppy and awkward to read. This same principle applies to writing character to my rough draft of my first chapter.

Other than that I think that I may as well have gotten over my head with topics I try to tackle. On the other hand/hoof I can have a one track mind so that doesn't help either.

Well for the plot idea I had in mind it is a man gets sent back to discords time period, and comes across filly Luna and filly Celestia who are sick weak and on the run from followers of discord. I want to write a lot of the story, but I just don't want to rush into the meeting of Luna and Celestia.

4395234
I'm having some trouble figuring out exactly what you're asking here. There's no question marks I'm your post and the title seems to mention several different concepts at once. Could you be more specific I'm what exactly your question is?

Search party ponies

I have a bit of an issue involved in a story I have yet to publish on this site. The gist of what's wrong for me is that I have the mane 6 and spike captured and sent to different places and search parties are sent out. I have Fluttershy, Twilight's, and Spikes search parties all figured out, but I need more figuring out for the others. I want to only use characters from the show instead of OC's as well.

For AJ, Little strongheart, Braeburn, and Flim and flam are looking for her. Im not sure about who else to put or if these are the right choices for her, but Flim and Flam are who I am most sure of for her.

Rarity has Blueblood, Fancy pants, minuette and Derpy. Derpy is there basically because the first two are rich ponies who don't know anything about things outside Canterlot. Blueblood is there because he wants to make nice with the element of generosity. I'm not confident on if four ponies is enough here, or if I should add more.

For Pinkie, Mrs. Harshwinnie Trixie and Cheese Sandwich. The only way I can see these three together is Cheese employed Trixie, and they are doing something for Harshwinnie. I don't want to include maud for her, but I want to know if this party can be made better.

Out of all of them, Rainbow confuses me most, because she basically Has fleetfoot, her favourite author, and Lightning Dust. I feel there might be an overabundance of Pegasus pony here, and I want to add Time Turner, because I love clock horses, but I also do not have a clear idea for her.

If you could help me figure out the party arrangements I would be very grateful since this is holding me up.

4421184
It's kind of hard to answer this without more context. Literally any group of ponies could work as a search party for any one of the M6, because really what requirements does a search party need besides eyes and locomotion? Are these parties being organized by a larger group like Ponyville to find the M6, or are they each going out independently of their own volition? If the former then the ponies you pick are largely inconsequential besides making interesting character matchups in each one, and really a fun team dynamic relies on a writer's ability far more than the characters involved. If the latter then of course you'd want to pick characters who have some personal connection to the pony they're looking for.

Also, it would make sense for Rainbow's search party to all be winged considering that, knowing her character, she's just as or even more likely to be found above the clouds than below them.

Either way, this isn't a question about writing so much as it is a question about your story, if you see the distinction. If you'd like to give me some more context then feel free to shoot a PM my way and I'll help you out some, but this type of question doesn't quite belong in the Study Hall, so I'd appreciate it if you kept any further discussion on the matter to PMs. Thanks!

character development

Hello! I am thinking of writing a fanfiction about how each of mane 6's life's change after rainbow dash never completes the sonic rainbow as a foal causing the mane 6 to get new cutiemarks, new destiny's and new personality's but the problem I'm having is because the mane 6 have new life's I have to write their character differently and develop it from square one, know what I mean? I hope I get a reply as it will me very much in becoming a fanfiction maker thank you for reading

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That's a pretty broad question, and not one I think could be properly answered in a single post here. I think you would be best off looking through the Character section in our School Directory, and perhaps reading our lectures on OCs.

If the M6's personalities are going to be as different as you say, then many of the same skills you might need to make a good OC would probably also come in handy with creating their new personas. Just make sure that you keep the essence of their characters intact, and don't stray so far that they aren't even recognizable as the ponies we all know and love.

Thx hun I'll read it now